Defence probes repeat Afghanistan deployments

The Defence Association says some soldiers are being sent back to Afghanistan up to eight times.

Matt Brown: ABC

The new chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) says he wants to find out more about the resilience of soldiers who are being repeatedly deployed to Afghanistan.

General David Hurley said he did not think fatigue was a factor when earlier this week he announced the death of veteran commando Sergeant Todd Langley.

But in an interview with the ABC, General Hurley says the Defence Force is investigating the long-term effects of multiple deployments.

Most of the 28 Australian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan were Special Forces troops and questions are being asked about the increasing burden being placed on a relatively small group who keep being sent back.

"We've got people going back to Afghanistan five, six, seven and eight times," said the executive director of the Australia Defence Association, Neil James.

"That's a hard call as we've seen in a recent case, where the [digger was] killed on his fifth rotation."

General Hurley has told the ABC's Sunday Profile program he is asking some serious questions about current practices.

He says the ADF has major studies underway looking at the long-term effects of multiple deployments.

"I suppose the bigger question I'm asking myself at the moment is how much is enough?" he said.

"Our psyche research at the present time indicates that number of deployments, for example, is not necessarily directly connected to future mental health issues. So the research is saying that it's early days," he said.

"So we're trying to very effectively manage getting the soldiers in a position to deploy, in the right state of mind and so forth, and looking at shorter and longer-term consequences of that deployment."

General Hurley says the question of how many deployments is too much is not just about the welfare of soldiers, but also about how the mission is maintained.

"There are multiple factors in this, it's not a simple linear thing," he said.

"The nature of the work will change over time as well so it's not a simple question."

Mr James says it may be many years before the mental health impact of the war in Afghanistan is known.

For now he says the burden of Australia's mission should be shared around other units.

"The main strategic question is, are our politicians relying too much on the Special Forces because of a fear of causalities, and therefore, [are] Special Forces to an extent being over-committed?"

For the first time Australian Defence Force personnel have been surveyed to determine the prevalence of mental health problems, the results will not be known until later this year.

A full interview with ADF chief General David Hurley can be heard on Sunday Profile on ABC Local Radio after the 9:00 news on Sunday night.